Compartmented pillow



March 18, 1952 R. M. SOURBECK COMPARTMENTED PILLOW Filed Aug. 5, 1946 Siva/beck Patented Mar. 18, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFiC-E COMPARTMENTED PILLOW Application August 1946, Serial No. "688,492

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to pillows, cushions, and equivalent stuffed. casings, and in general has reference to a novel cellular construction which assists in maintaining the filling properly allocated to insure substantially uniform comfort when the article is in use.

Various types of pillows, cushions or the like have heretofore been made either with orwithout internal dividing partitions. Those without dividers or partitions with fillers of feathers, down, latex foam rubber or other materials tend to lose their shape when pressure is applied at any one point and must be fiuffed or shaken to-bring them back to a semblance of their original shape. Usually those made with dividers or partitions are constructed so that the ends of the compartment formed between the dividers are not adequately sealed and the filling material can shift from one compartment to another and eventually cause an uneven distribution of the filling material resulting in lumps or a distorted unit.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a pillow with novel compartmentation which is strong and durable, whereby shifting of the filling material from one compartment or cell to another is eliminated, and the said filling material is adequately confined over long periods of use.

Another object is to provide a novel method of making a compartment type pillow and'filling the same in a manner to insure that the article will retain its original thickness within close limits with any type of filling material.

A further object is to provide a pillow, cushion, casing or the like, having desirable sanitary characteristics in the respect that it can be washed and dried without removing any of the contents and without changing the original shape. In that connection, this objective is made possible by the usev of partitions or dividers, which by the present, novel means of sealing or closin the ends of the idividers, assures the permanent positioning of the material in each compartment within the pillow casing.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pillow casing,:for example, showing one end thereof parted for filling prior to sewing the ends closed, but showing the end portions folded preparatory to their interfitting relation.

Figure 2 is a cross section view taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

parts throughout the-several figures of the drawings.

marily intended for use with such cushioning materials as shredded latex rubber foam, spong rubher, or any other form of rubber or materialofsimilar texture having inherent resiliencyand in effect buoyancy when under .pressure, whereby, when a casing or other single receptacle is filled to capacity or near capacity therewith, such materials "are not unduly compressed or compacted and have to preserve their initial resiliency and cushioning qualities. Accordingly, to provide for the strain applied to the seams of the pillow, cushion, casing or the like stuffed with such resilient materials, it is proposed to provide a novel method of seaming or hemming the ends of the pillows and compartments so as to effectively re-.- sist the-strains imposed thereon by the distortion of the resilient fillers when displaced in. the re.- spective compartments by compressive stress.

Referring first to Figure 1 and the particular structural features of the seams and partitions. or dividers I0 designates a casing comprising a flexible sheet of woven fabric, vinyl resin film, rubber hydrochloride and other coated materials, which is turned over, for example, inwardly along each edge thereof to provide a flange or hem :l I.

After :this has been done, dividers or partitionsl2 are prepared at the ends with a like flange or hem l4 along their shortest edges. These dividers may be of the same material as the casing if desired.

The partitions i2 are then folded over upon themselves lengthwise, sothat the flanges 14 are doubled over to provide a quadruple thickness, and the doubled over flange l4 of one end is inserted under a portion of one flange 2H of the casing or main cover 10. This casing is then folded over upon itself lengthwise, so that the doubled over flange M. of the partition ends is sandwiched in between :the now doubled over flange H of the casing. Likewise, the longitudinaledges of the partitions are flanged'over at l5 (Fig. 2), for sewingto the inner side faces of the casing ll]. These flanged over longitudinaledges [5 continue to the end flanges M of the partitions l2 and the portions l5 as sewed by stitches to the main cover 10.

The novel construction herein described is pri- The doubled over flanges II and 14 providing eight thicknesses are now ready to be stitched or sewed together as indicated at S to form an exceptionally strong seal at the end of the pillow and also to seal one end of each compartment defined between each partition. When this has been done, the stitching may be continued along the open side [6 of the casing l0, so that,the casing and compartments therein are now sealed or closed completely on three sides. This leaves an end of the casing and the ends of the several compartments open to facilitate filling with the desired stufling materials.

The filler material may be dispensed from a hopper or other suitable device in predetermined measured quantities according to the volumes of the several compartments. For example, the two outside compartments are somewhat smaller than the interior compartments, due to the fact that the outside edges of the casing, pillow or the like are more or less rounded. Accordingly, a smaller amount of filler, such as shredded latex, for example, is placed in the outside compartments than in the larger intermediate compartments.

After the compartments have all been filled according to their respective capacities, the unclosed open end I! of the casing 10 and the partition ends with their respective flanges are interfitted and hemmed together in the same way as was the other end thereof. Thus, after the casing I is closed on all sides as described, the contents of each compartment is absolutely separated from the contents of the adjoining compartment. As the partition ends are folded over at flange I4, the partitions are caused to twist out from each end of the pillow and tend to straighten out at the mid sections l8 thereof from the pinched together flanged end portions when the compartments are stuffed. The fact that the filler cannot shift from one pocket to'another serves to maintain a casing, pillow, or the like, of substantially uniform shape and thickness.

While the drawing shows the partitions longitudinally of the casing 10, it is to be understood that they may, if desired, be arranged across the casing or at various angles or combinations thereof. Also, the partitions may be made of varying sizes, for example, from four inches wide and six inches long to flve feet wide and six'feet, six inches long. When a pillow is thus made, it is very useful and desirable for hospitals, hotels and institutions where pillows, cushions or filled casings become soiled or exposed to contagious diseases and must be sterilized before they can be used again, as the whole unit may be conveniently sterilized without fear of ruining its shape, appearance, or usefulness.

Without further description, it is thought that the novel features of the present invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art and it will, of course, be understood that changes may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims.

- I claim:

1. A pillow or the like, including, a sheet folded over to form a casing having oppositely positioned sides with turned over edges, a plurality of partitions in said casing, filling material between each partition, each partition at each end having a turned over end flange, each of said flanges being folded over upon itself to form a double thickness of each partition end, each doubled over flanged partition end being inserted under one of the turned over edges at each end of the casing and hemmed to the said edges of the casing to form seams, and said partitions being spaced apart and sewed along their respective longitudinal edges between the flanged partition ends to the opposite inner faces of the said sides of the casing, thereby to form a plurality of compartments adapted to separately confine said filling material.

2. A pillow or the like, including a flexible sheet folded in half to form a casing having top and bottom sides, a plurality of divider strips spaced apart and sewed to the inner faces of said sides, each of said strips being turned over to form a flanged edge along each end, each of said flanged edges being folded over to form a double thickness and hemmed between the edges of the folded casing sheet at each end of the pillow to thereby close the ends of the casing and define a plurality of closed compartments in the casing between said strips, said compartments being stuffed with resilient material, such as shredded rubber.

3. The method of making pillows or the like comprising the following steps: turning over the edges of a piece of flexible sheet material, folding the sheet in half to provide oppositely facing top and bottom sides of a pillow with the turned over edges of the top side superimposed above the corresponding turned over edges of the bottom side of the pillow along three edges thereof, two of said edges at each end being end edges and two of said edges on one side being side edges, then sewing each of the opposite longitudinal edges of each of one of a plurality of elongated partitions of sheet material between the said sides in spaced apart relation, then sewing under one of the turned over end edges of one of the said sides of the sheet material the doubled over REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 765,519 Sperry July 19, 1904 774,996 Starkwather Nov. 15, 1904 1,206,775 Everts Nov, 28, 1916 2,147,362 Bloomberg Feb. 14, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number v Country Date 23,075 -Australia June 17,1935 477,301 Germany June 7, 1929 415,795 Great Britain Sept. 3, 1934 479,374 Great Britain Feb, "4, 1938 

